The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy maintains this blog to disseminate information relevant to astronomers who identify as women. If you have an idea for a blog post or topic, please submit to wia-blog at lists.aas.org.
The views expressed on this site are not necessarily the views of the CSWA, the AAS, its Board of Trustees, or its membership.

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Orsola De Marco is an Astrophysicists working at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She is Italian born, but complete her degrees at University College London. She spent the better part of a decade at the American Museum of Natural History, where she worked in research as well as Astronomy documentaries.

Walking the tight rope takes a lot of training. Even more so if the walker carries two suitcases, and is balancing a ball on her nose. It is hard but it can be done with some innate ability and the right encouragement. And so the walker takes her first few steps, to the applause of the audience. But as her pace picks up, now steady and confident, the audience starts to leave, the encouragement wanes and she realises that she is not yet on the other side. Not by a long way. Then the wind strengthens and the suitcases are feeling heavier. Though experienced, she now has to figure out a new set of tricks to keep her balance.

In one’s mid-career, having achieved some measure of success (a job, even professor title) things are by no means slowing down or getting easier. There are still very large and growing expectations of maintaining a certain level of research, teaching and administration. And while these expectations grow, the kids, who for a few years have been easier, older, more independent, turn into teens, with teen problems. And the ageing parents who were helpful, turn into … kids. And suddenly life and work become a new match of some well-known game where the rules have been altered, like a professional soccer player, placed in a game of bubble football, where skill is sabotaged by grotesque obstacles.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

The Women in Planetary Science blog this week featured a summary of last fall's Planetary Allyship Meeting at the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) conference. The group held their fourth annual DPS event where they discussed "how people from non-marginalized groups can support equity in the scientific community". In the blog entry, the event organizers summarized the discussion and provided action items for those interested in working toward change.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Astronomy and Planetary Science are fields with numerous opportunities for naming objects. From the many stars in the sky to the rocks on the surface of Mars, scientists have made many choices about what to call the objects they study. Several recent articles have highlighted the importance of using names that are inclusive and make connections to various cultures.

As Dr. J. A. Grier wrote in her recent Medium article, The Crisis of Naming the Universe: "There are too many awesome names that we can choose from for us to spend one single moment considering a name that hurts anybody at all. In fact, we can do better than ‘not hurt’ people — we can encourage, lift up, and empower them with our choice of names."

The efforts of many experts who have chosen diverse names have been highlighted in recent articles:

Thursday, January 3, 2019

The National Academy of Sciences has appointed Fiona Harrison and Robert Kennicutt Jr. to co-chair the upcoming Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astro2020. We encourage our community members to strongly consider having their voices and priorities for the next decade heard through white paper submissions, especially our junior, female and/or underrepresented minority professionals and those served by AAS diversity committees.

Anyone wishing to provide scientific input to Astro2020 now has an extra month to do so. The window for submitting science white papers opens at 12:01 am Eastern Time on Monday, 7 January 2019 and submissions will be accepted through 5:00 pm ET on Tuesday, 19 February 2019. This call is only for science white papers. Later calls are anticipated for other topics, like missions, facilities, policy, and the state of the profession.

The winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society will take place Sunday January 6 through Thursday January 10 in Seattle, WA. This cross-post contains events and sessions featured in the latest CSMA Newsletter that may be of interest to those supporting astronomers of color and social justice topics. We have supplemented the listing with additional events featuring the other AAS diversity committees.